How Witch It Is

Wicked Witches of the Midwest, Books 1-3

By: Amanda M. Lee

Narrated by: Aris

Length: 18 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to Hemlock Cove, where the town is magically rebranded - but real witches aren't necessarily welcome.

That makes things hard for the Winchester witches - including local newspaper reporter Bay. She's got a persnickety family - wait until you met Aunt Tillie - and a penchant for stumbling across trouble.

Thankfully for Bay, she's got loyal cousins and the ability to talk to ghosts as she tries to solve mysteries and put souls to rest.

Follow Bay as she meets a man who is more than he seems and tries to hide a history that is centuries in the making.

This is the first three books in the Wicked Witches of the Midwest cozy mystery series. It includes: Any Witch Way You Can, Every Witch Way But Wicked, and Witching You Were Here.

©2012 Amanda M. Lee (P)2015 Amanda M. Lee

Mixed

These books are basically murder mysteries with witches. The magic in the book is pretty light handed and, sadly, is far more believable than the rest of the book. Maybe "believable" is not the correct word, but these books are nothing but a string of contradictions. The girls are semi professional woman in their twenties yet act like they are 16. The supposed federal agent and love interest acts like an 18 year old and in three books he has not done anything at all that would actually indicate he is an agent other than occasionally stating it. The girls, also, seem to be smart sometimes and then other times to suit the plot are as dumb as a sack of rocks. I realize this is done to make the book lighthearted and fun, but it doesn't really work.

The books are also very repetitive. I felt like I just listened to the same book three times. luckily, 80% of each book is filled with funny family squabbles so at least you get some entertainment, until the repetitive plot points make you roll your eyes, and the annoying, beefcake love interests come into the picture to share their cringy, completely awkward dialogue with you.

Believe it or not, as harsh as I'm being, I'm not all that bothered by the narrator. I will say that she is not a professional voice actress, but probably simply someone the author knew and hired to read the books. I hope to God she doesn't actually try to make a living doing this. However, she wasn't actually bad. I was happy that she read quickly. I hate the really slow readers you often get on audible, so much so that many books I have to listen to at 125% speed. This girl at least had a good pace and did a reasonable job for an amateur. I would suggest that maybe she listen to some advanced books herself, or just talk to people older than 16 so she can learn how to pronounce big words. At least that was funny.

At any rate, f you listen to this as the silly, lighthearted set of books it was intended to be, it is not a bad passive set of books to keep on in the background while you do something else. But, unfortunately, it is just lacking in too many areas to actually be considered "good." It is solidly average with a little charm that could be worth your time if you aren't a picky old grouch like me.

I like this series despite the narration.

While the narration is better than some I've heard, that isn't saying much. She talks too fast and too high pitched, almost whiny even when the story line doesn't call for it. While the writing makes the young women sound immature, the narration makes them seem elementary age. Despite all of these negatives, there is a cute story line and strongish characters. Aunt Tillie and Landon are my favorites. I intend to finish the series and possibly read/listen to this author's other series with other narrators. Hopefully they won't be as annoyingly shrill.

Hilarious

Great, easy read / listen. Fun characters, engaging story, & plenty of humor. Definitely a recommend for those looking to be entertained.

hmmm

Because this is a cozy mystery set, I had some expectations and went in knowing not everything would be reality based- and I'm not talking about the witchy stuff. Most CMs that I've read are kind of loose on research and thats ok. I don't mind. I didn't expect a great and deep love story or historical accuracy. I expected some shallower characters and a cute mystery. Just a nice easy read.
That said, there was a lot that gave me pause here. To fully disclose myself, I stopped part of the way through book 3 and I'll explain why in a few.
One of the head scratchers was when the FBI guy was going on about permits for guns. I let that inaccuracy go because I figured that could have been a world building aspect since there are witches and such. Obviously it isn't exactly like real life so maybe Lee changed some laws to suit her. So I plowed on. (And no. You don't need a permit to own a gun. You need one in some states to carry concealed. You also need one for specific antiques or listed guns. A revolver though? pass a background check and pay for it and you can carry it home.)
Then, when we got to book 3, along came a head scratcher that I couldn't ignore. Suddenly, the town drunk became a business man and ghosts who had disappeared suddenly maybe did, maybe didn't disappear. Continuity errors bother me to no end, especially when those errors contradict the last paragraphs of the previous book. 2 min read would have kept that error from happening.
Another big thing that bothered me was Bay's fainting spells. Lee has never fainted nor known anyone who has. If she did, she wouldn't be so blithely putting her MC into comas and giving her brain damage scenarios. If someone you know faints and you can carry them home, then wait hours for them to wake, please please call an ambulance. They have serious brain problems and need medical attention asap. A fainting spell lasts seconds, not hours. Poor Bay has major brain damage now.
There were other issues but those were the most bothersome to me.
Now, on to the characters. The moms are pretty stereotypical and that's fine. The aunt is pretty funny but also what youd expect. The cousins are fine. Thistle is mean, though. Always so cranky and sometimes downright hateful. But that's fine for a story. I don't have to hang out with her irl.
Bay and Landon, though....whew. Sometimes I forgot they were in their 30s. They snip like children. One expects the other to divulge their deepest darkest secrets and they haven't even been on a proper date yet. They play silly games avoiding each other and expect the other to be ok with that. They argue about silly stuff instead of dealing with the gun wielding kidnapper. I mean, is he really FBI? Cause my teenager has more control of himself and more sense in a dangerous situation. Landon flips between popular guy in HS to mean guy in HS and back again. Bay acts like theyve been married for 50 years and he's left her instead of knowing each other for a week or so. I know, I know. It's a CM. Still.
Finally, another thing that bothered me was the plethora of adverbs. They did everything goofily, irritatingly, wildly, quietly, and so on. They couldn't just say something. It had to be said mysteriously or angrily. They had to walk quietly or clumsily. When they glared, it was irritatingly or explosively. Adverbs aren't bad but when I'm hearing a -ly every fourth word, it's very noticeable.
The stories, plot wise, are nice. The second one was interesting and I liked the inclusion of the ghosts in the first one. Not sure about the third because I just had to quit after Bay slammed her boss's door and stomped out of his office after meeting with a cousin's dad and having a silly argument with both. Who rounds on their boss and asks them 'why would you do this to me' because the boss asked you to meet with an advertiser? Even stomping was included and I just couldn't play along with the 5yo tantrums any longer. I know CMs can be OOT but sheesh.
So, bottom line is that this wasn't my cup of tea or tequila or scotch. It could have been. The mysteries were clear and fun enough but I couldn't get over the characters' tantrums. It might well be your thing though so consider giving it a try or checking out the sample.

Great stories- but HORRIBLE performance

Would you listen to How Witch It Is again? Why?

I love the stories of the Wicket Witches of the Midwest, but this is one of the worst narrators I've every had to suffer through.

What did you like best about this story?

Stories are slightly predictable, but characters are amusing and will quickly captivate you.

What didn’t you like about Aris’s performance?

Aris's performance was horrible. One phrase into the first book, she was mispronouncing basic words - distracting from the story. There is little to no distinction in performance or voice for Clove, Thistle and Bay - and she makes them all sound like constipated valley girls. Unsure if it is just her performance, or production as well, but there are awkward pauses and stops mid sentence that make it hard for you to really get into the stories. It is a shame that she was chosen to be the voice of these stories, as they deserve a much richer and more competent narration. At the very least, someone who knows how to pronounce "vehemently".

Okay

I’d rate this as just okay. Not great, not awful. There are some funny bits but not enough connected with my own sense of humour to keep me interested. I was glad to be done with them, turning up the speed of playback to hurry the ending.

Narrator AWFUL

Narrator was AWFUL! I could make it through the first book. She went so fast and didn’t break between chapters or paragraphs. I even slowed the speed down and just said forget it. What a waste of money! Too bad cause I love Amanda’s books!

My 2nd Listen

I enjoy this series a lot. I am gpoing through them all again. Aunt Tillie is the best!

Really liked these until…

I was really enjoying the series til book 8. She changed narrators and the new one is awful. She talks like a baby makes Thistle sound like a man I will not be able to listen to any more with the new narrator. Too bad. I really enjoyed the first 7.

Mixed bag

It's sort of hard to judge the writing, which - aside from needing some serious editing - seems pretty good.

The narration is another story. Read at break-neck speed, with little differentiation between the main characters (I know it's got to be hard, three cousins and their three mothers, but still, that's your job). Some line readings are just so off it's painful - and worse, certain words are constantly mispronounced (vehemently is not read as vee-HEM-ently, e.g.). Also, the three cousins are supposed to be in their twenties but come off sounding like 16yo Valley girls.

Can't totally blame the narrator: what were the director or producer doing?